The present invention generally relates to pricing systems, and more specifically, but not exclusively, concerns a pricing display system adapted to display dynamically priced goods via a graphical user interface.
One of the first methods for dynamically displaying fluctuating prices of publicly traded commodities was the ticker-tape machine. As technology advanced, these machines were replaced by electronic displays that simulate a moving ticker-tape. Additionally, non-moving displays are known that display fluctuating prices in real time. Some examples of electronic displays include the graphics generated by news networks during the stock market trading day that reflect the prices of publicly traded stocks. These graphics usually simulate a moving ticker-tape along the bottom of a television screen. Another example of such an electronic display is a Light Emitting Diode (LED) display, such as those commonly used at the various market exchanges, and in the lobbies of brokerage firms.
Additionally, software is available for use with home and business computer systems, as well as hand-held communications and computing devices, that displays in near real-time the prices of various publicly traded commodities. For example, many on-line brokerage services provide their customers with continuously updated prices for stock prices, bond prices, futures prices, and the like. In these situations, the prices for the traded items are those agreed to by buyers and sellers who submit “ask” and “bid” prices.
In the area of merchandise sales and services for hire, such as business-to-business transactions, consumer transactions, and wholesale transactions, prices are set by the seller, or negotiated between a buyer and a seller on an individual basis. This is true for personal property, such as consumer goods, pure intellectual property, such as on-line music, movie, software, and book downloads, as well as for services, such as lawn maintenance, cleaning services, and the like. For example, the iTunes Music Store operated by Apple Computer, Inc., sells downloaded songs for $0.99 each.
Many merchandise and services items, however, are conducive to having their price set by the seller as a function of their demand in the marketplace. This is especially true of pure intellectual property goods, such as downloaded songs, movies, software, and the like. This is also true of items with a short marketable shelf life, such as high-technology items that are in high demand one year and obsolete the next.
For a purely intellectual property good, the cost to distribute, for example, a given sound recording (such as a song) via the Internet, may only be only a few cents, but the demand may vary from 10,000 sales per day to 100 sales per quarter. In another example, a merchant may be able to demand $250 for video card in January, and be forced to “close-out” the same card for $25 in December. It would be desirable to provide a system that dynamically adjusts the price of an item available for purchase to maximize profit, and display the fluctuating price to prospective purchasers in a near real-time fashion.